Yes there is monster power and paragon level
Inferno is easier now (you can finish it with 500k item budget)
There is Dueling (still bad imo, but it's something)
Any build is now viable since they nerfed inferno (a lot since 1.03)
There are some Uber bosses that you can fight for Hellfire ring and new gem and item recipes (but wait till you finish inferno first)

Paragon levels allow you to level from Paragon 1 to Paragon 100, each time you level you gain 3% magic find and 3% gold find. You also get +3 of you main stat +2 Vit and +1 to all other stats. This will allow you to move out of MF gear completely and spend gold on different stats in your item budget.

Monster power is pretty much progression inferno. Yes inferno on monster power 0 is easy. Once you can conquer it on 0 you move to MP1 and you get +10% magic and gold find and 10% for every MP level you increase. I currently can farm MP5 easily without dying more than once or twice per act. I have decent gear on my WD. Be careful with monster power, its no joke. It increases the damage and health of monsters and if you get too far out of your league, you can and WILL be one shot by any and everything.

I wouldnt say that every build is viable like the poster above, because when your pushing your monster power limits, you want to have a nice defensive build or you will die often. I like to farm MP5 because I dont need defensive build for that and I can face roll the entire thing. I could however ~ farm MP7 with a nice defensive build, but it would take longer and i would probly die a lot more.

If you havnt played in a while, now would be a good time to come back and play with some friends.

hmm. well i dont really have any friends that play anymore but im looking for something to do in between raids so im thinking i might come back. thanks for the info - monster power and paragon seem like good additions that will stop the game going stale

hmm. well i dont really have any friends that play anymore but im looking for something to do in between raids so im thinking i might come back. thanks for the info - monster power and paragon seem like good additions that will stop the game going stale

Yeah, it will keep you busy for a while. I play casually, 4 or 5 hours a week total and I'm only at paragon 18

I think Diablo 3 is a game you play once in a while, like Diablo 2 before it. I can't stand either game for too long periods of time but once I do return it's great fun, for some time.

That's a pretty good description and explains a LOT.

D3 : you play in between games and when you are in the mood. LOTS of people wanted it to have the playing time of an MMORPG, which is kind of stupid.

In MMORPg's you NEED to play daily just to keep up with the latest (highest) content. There is no such competition in D3. You play along your own time and pace.

Which is great.

Also: to the OP: the crafting in the end game has changed with the previous patches and this one: in patch 1.05 you can grind for keys from key wardens with which you can craft a Machine to get to super bosses: these super bosses give mats to craft Legendary Rings.

In patch 1.07 they widened the idea by letting certain bosses drop plans to craft new Bind on Account gear (6 different item slots).

The key hunt and crafting plans add another dimension to this game which is quite fun.

It reminds me of those endless grinds for rare mounts in WOW, but this time you can UP your chances by playing more difficult content (choice of MP (monster play) from 1 - 10: the higher the MP, the more difficult to kill....the greater the chance of a drop...

Great game, but you are so right: to game from time to time when you are in the mood.

I have played around 400 hours until now. That's quite a lot. But guys having 2 or 3 Paragon level 100's must be in their 1000 + hours and that's simply too much to be enjoyed (5 hours a day on average is way too much over 9 months).

I think Diablo 3 is a game you play once in a while, like Diablo 2 before it. I can't stand either game for too long periods of time but once I do return it's great fun, for some time.

I couldn't agree with this more. I dropped off playing regularly once MoP got going (lots to do there) and have been gradually returning and upping the amount of time I play per week for a little while now. The new patch (1.0.7) is great and I'm playing about 5 hours a week (still casual but that's up from 5 hours a month). I don't play for long stretches but I really enjoy the time I put into the game now.

Discussing moderation is against the rules and makes a post liable for an infraction. Send a PM if that's not clear. Don't put it in a thread.
Please report problem posts instead of responding to them.
Forum FAQ. Read it.
Post about the topic, not about one another.
Treat me like anyone else unless you're breaking rules or we need to do site business. I play. I have likes and dislikes. We're not that different.